Content management applications, such as EMC Documentum, provide services and processes for managing documents and/or content for large enterprises. Some example services or processes provided by a content management application include “shepherding” content or documents through various stages or steps, for example to collect data, get approval, store information and so on related to a particular line of business. A content management application may ensure (as an example) proper company and/or regulatory procedure has been followed and/or no item is forgotten or left behind at a particular step. In some cases, a content management application provides a generalized, out-of-the-box platform or framework for creating, managing, and storing content, and the out-of-the-box platform is customized for a customer's specific needs. For example, a pharmaceutical company may customize a content management application for their particular needs related to product development (e.g., to track the progress of drug development from research and development in the laboratory through clinical drug trials).
It is desirable for such content management applications to have channels by which information can be exchanged with people who are not employees of a company, for example customers of a bank who want to apply for a loan. It is further desirable if content management applications (e.g., EMC Documentum) offered techniques by which their customers (e.g., a bank) could create an action flow (e.g., a web-based loan application) which offers advantages during the design phase (e.g., when a loan application is created or updated) and/or at run time (e.g., when an applicant accesses a loan application).